Sir, I read with interest the article by Graeme Bletcher on the speed/safety camera being out of action at the A90/A937 junction, and note his closing comment about the proposed developments at Laurencekirk.
However, probably of more relevance to your readers are all the new developments proposed between Laurencekirk and South Angus on the A937 and A92, at Hillside, Montrose and Arbroath, all of which will have a far greater impact on the safety of this junction.
It will be the northbound commuters from these developments who will be faced with even greater tail-backs approaching the A90, and then having to merge with the increased traffic coming from other proposed new developments at Edzell.
Transport Scotland maintain that the 50mph speed limit has made the junction safe, but surely you don’t have to be a traffic engineer to realise that slowing traffic from 70 to 50 merely causes them to bunch up closer through the limit area, so it is still just as much of a gamble trying to merge into the traffic flow when joining the main road.
It can only be a matter of time before there is another serious or fatal accident at this junction and there must be pressure put on Transport Scotland to make the changes needed before that time runs out.
Charles Gordon. 25 Kirktonhill Road, Marykirk.
The answer is already there
Sir, Further to your GM reporting (Farming, January 15), which sadly gave at least two views for it and none against. I will simply take the article by Gordon Rennie, well known East Neuk farmer whose flamboyant rhetoric often masks realities. His first point is regarding potatoes. There is already a potato out there which is blight resistant and not created by GM its called Sarpo and needs our support to grow and develop.
With the potential risks to environment and human health, I do not see any place for genetic engineering in modern agriculture. The film “Food Inc” shows that GMO’s lock farmers into a cycle of corporate-controlled dependency on monoculture and herbicide use, without increasing yields or delivering any other public benefits.
It would be better to form new partnerships between plant breeders such as those behind Sarpo, policy makers and producers, to develop strategies for feeding a growing world population against a background of climate change and resource depletion without using GM.
Christopher Trotter. Buckthorns House, Upper Largo.
The price gap says it all
Sir, Amongst the reams of GM crop hype to which Courier readers are regularly treated, I noticed the following nugget of information (Farming, January 15). A major Scottish producer of non-GM wheat and oilseed rape estimates he and similar UK farmers enjoy a price premium, equivalent to £20,000 per annum, over their GM counterparts.
Even if this estimate is only half accurate, this is serious money.
If GM crops are such a marvellous idea for farmers and consumers, shouldn’t the premium be the other way around? Indeed, could anything better illustrate the yawning gap between the rhetoric and the reality of GM crops?
Peter Romilly. 4 Westwood Terrace, Newport on Tay.
In defence of higher values
Sir, The Courier editorship gains my admiration for, inter alia, sponsoring the article by Jenny Hjul on “dumbing down” in our society, educational and otherwise (Wednesday, January 16).
She goes where many angels fear to tread, for so many elements of the responsible media avoid mention of the calamitous downturn in literacy, articulation and social values which characterise the output of tomorrow’s “educated classes”.
Her reference to the celebrated St Andrew’s University Professor of Philosophy, John Haldane, reminds us that there are those in the upper reaches of cultural life who are clearly now prepared to speak out in defence of “higher” values and the destructive forces which now so direly threaten them.
Alastair Harper. House of Gask, Lathalmond, by Dunfermline.
Independence party needed?
Sir, Given the opportunity, voters would say yes to an exit from the EU, whereas political leaders will not agree to such a move, which is why a referendum on the subject will never be possible.
This difference of opinion has given rise to a political party (UKIP) whose existence depends on the Government ignoring the electorate.
We in Scotland are fortunate in having got used to the idea of being ignored by the Government when in comes to important decisions, such as smoking, gay marriage, pricing of drinks and, of course, windmills.
Such a course of action will culminate in the largest stroke of irony since they lost votes in an election, when we will be asked to vote on “independence”. A positive vote will confirm Scotland’s feudal allegiance to Europe.
Is it too soon to suggest we might need an independence party?
Alan Bell. Roods, Kirriemuir.